Mark

Mark is most likely the first of the Gospels to be written because it is the shortest and tells of the ministry of Jesus. Markstresses Jesus’ message aboutthe kingdom of God and how it is breaking intohumanlife as goodnews and that Jesus himself is portrayed as the “gospel of God.” Jesus is explained as the Son of God who is sent down to rescue everyone. His life is predestined as a sacrifice for humanity. The beginning of the book sets the tone of Mark by the actions of John the Baptist and God as he speaks during Jesus’ baptism declaring Jesus his son. Also in the beginning Jesus is supposed to baptize the Holy Spirit and that the temptation of Satan fails. Examining the verse 14-15 of chapter 1 one can understand Jesus proclamation as Gospel: “fulfillment, the nearness of the kingdom and therefore the need for faith.” From this point on we see miraclesbeing performed on thepeople. It almost seems as though he is carrying out these miracles in order to make people either fear him, or prove to people who he is. People then start to take a real liking to him as he helps them unconditionally with all of their ailments. Jesus later appoints 12 disciples to carry out his reign and to drive out the demons as he is doing. Though we see in chapter three the introduction of the Apocalypticthought. Jesus is accused of being “Beelzebul” which is a word used for Satan, they say this because they do not have an explanation for him driving out the demons. We also see in this chapter that Jesus say’s that his family is those that believe in God and follow his reign. This insinuates the idea that Jesus is in all of us. Continuing the story we see Jesus is preparing for everything that is to happen. He is aware of the disciples that are going to betray him, and that he is going to be sentenced to death by Pilate. Then the Last Supperwhere he is to foretells the future. In chapter 13 we are told about the destruction of the Temple. This is very apocalyptic in tone because it tells of the falling of all the great buildings right down to the last stone. He says that there will be many wars, and many nations will fight but it will all be built again, saying that intervention will only happen after destruction. What he is talking about is the Romans coming to take over Jerusalem and to destroy the temple. Though Jesus does not say when this is going to happen. The book of Mark ends with Jesus being crucified and dying on the cross for everyone. He was buried and then the following day as Mary Magdedalene, Mary Mother of James and Salomon went to go anoint his body they found that his body was not there. They assumed that Jesus had risen. He appeared to the eleven and said go out and proclaim what has happened and those that believe will be saved and those that don’t will be condemned. This is the final portion of Mark and it’s proclaims that those who do not believe will be punished. This is a very similar attitude that was seen in Daniel as God the punisher.